Jeffrey (Jeff) Lee Peterson, 61, died on October 20, 2016 at Halifax Hospice Care Center in Edgewater, Florida. Born April 2, 1955 in Rahway, New Jersey, Jeff has been a resident of Florida for 34 years.  He is survived by his daughters, Tara Espinoza and Mallory Clancy, his beloved granddaughter, Lena Espinoza, his mother Elizabeth Peterson and siblings John Peterson, Terry Dunn, Brian Peterson and Joanne Canale.

His experience in aircraft maintenance and his unbridled ingenuity emboldened Jeff to create and grow a successful business. Throughout his career he traveled the world, filling an entire passport with stamps from faraway destinations including Argentina, China and Ireland.

By friends, he is perhaps best known for his generosity and creativity. Young at heart and constantly tinkering, he could usually be found fixing a boat or a car, or installing a homemade water filtration system on his fish tank where he propagated his own coral. His daughters knew him as the creator of epic easter-egg hunts, multiple story treehouses and inverted christmas trees hanging from the ceiling. He shared his love of travel and fishing with his girls through annual snorkeling trips in the tropics. To everyone he met, his adoration of his family was unmistakeable.

A memorial service will be held in his honor on November 26th at the New Smyrna Boat and Ski Club at a time still to be determined.